Consumer Electronics

Will the combination of the ARM processor coupled with 14 nm FinFET process thanks to Samsung change the dynamics of the mobile processor market? That is certainly the logic being put forward by Mark Hibben at Seeking Alpha.

As he explains:

The term FinFET stands for Fin Field Effect Transistor because one of its structural features is a vertical silicon fin.

After spending a good deal of time with the iPhone 6 Plus, I feel confident enough to point out its pros and cons. Hopefully you’ll find this list useful when making a decision regarding a smartphone purchase.

Pictured above: iPhone 6 and big brother/sister iPhone 6 Plus

Perhaps the best feature of the phone is the superior antenna, thanks in part to the larger size of the phone and technological improvements by Apple like support for 802.11ac. If you used a 5s or smaller device you have likely experienced the challenge of seeing a WiFi signal but not being able to connect with it in a meaningful way. In other words, the phone is receiving a signal from an access point but doesn't have a strong enough signal to establish a connection of any value.

Hewlett-Packard will once again split its company into two, basically spinning off the low-margin PC and printer business according to reports. We have seen IBM pull this off with its PC and later server business thanks to Lenovo.

The reason I say "once again" of course is the company said it would do this a while back and abruptly changed course. They then reassured hte market that they would not spin off the units.

The move does make sense from the standpoint of focus and valuation. The company is gargantuan and having to deal with PCs and printers is just one more area to devote precious resources.

The enterprise mobility management space is bustling with activity thanks in large-part to the explosion of devices which companies must support. BYOD is something companies had no choice to accept – but this doesn’t mean they can’t manage the devices which are logging onto corporate systems and using company wireless networks. In fact, more than ever, they have to focus more on potential BYOD threats.

The reports stated that Apple applies 25 kilograms (slightly more than 55 pounds) of force to an iPhone 6 Plus to test flex. What does 55 pounds mean in context? Using our Instron, we found that it's approximately the force required to break three pencils.

Basically, as I have been saying all along, bendgate is a tremendous amount of BS.

For the first time ever, Apple introduced two phones of different sizes at once. This is a huge deal for the company which kept the original phone screen size until the iPhone 5. The good news it is potentially easy to decide between the two devices – based upon what you do most.

What makes the decision a bit easier is the fact that Apple makes no iPad smaller than the mini which does not fit in suit or pants pockets.

I find if you write about Android or Apple, you are often a target for people who will flame you on social media for being pro-Samsung/Google or Apple. Actually I am not pro-anyone... I use Android, iOS and Windows 8 - often all within the same hour.

Having said that, many people in my office are iPhone users and it seems a casual survey of them shows almost all have decided to take the plunge and buy the iPhone 6 Plus which is likely one of the tallest phones you will find with any frequency. Its 6.2 inches tall in fact!

It's funny really, many people who have ordered it are actually scared that the phone is too big.

The Acer Aspire Switch 10 two-in-one touchscreen tablet/laptop may be the ultimate device for students and consumers. In short, it offers all the good of a PC meaning you can run full Microsoft Office applications like Word and Excel and at the same time it is a touchscreen tablet which can be used for media consumption. It runs Flash so all the challenges many other tablets have with this Adobe creation aren’t a problem.